Affluent Boomers

[megacorp-firee]

I have BS and PhD degrees in engineering. I don't any engineers that dropped a class because they were getting a B . . . . . . . . . pre-meds on the other hand are a completely different story.

MB

but that's because of the highly competitive med school requirements. So IMO there is a logical reason for that. (no I'm not a MD)

 

[mb]

Agree, I would have done the same if I had been pre med. A couple of Bs could prevent you from getting into med school but I have never heard of a BS engineer not getting a job because of a B in thermo or circuits of something.

MB

 

[Spanky]

For med schools, you need to have an almost 4.0 GPA, perfect MCAT score, great letters of recommendation from professors, great essays and interviews, and networking. The reasons -- simply too many people want to get the big bucks or want to help people get well.

 

[armor99]

Careful now Spanky.... I have known quite a few people that have gone through medical school. And becomming a doctor does not lead to the big bucks right away like people think. First off, most doctors are staring down the barrel at 100k+ worth of loans to pay back when they start. Second, since medical school and residency take take so long 8+ years, most people are in their early 30's before they are even earning a decent paycheck. Not to say that is does not turn itself around later in life, but it is not nearly as glamourous a lifestyle as some folks think.

 

[Spanky]

armor99,

They deserve their pay given the reasons that you have stated. If the pay was a lot lower, the competition to get into medical schools, IMHO, should be a lot lower.

Spanky

 

[barbarus]

Careful now Spanky.... I have known quite a few people that have gone through medical school. And becomming a doctor does not lead to the big bucks right away like people think. First off, most doctors are staring down the barrel at 100k+ worth of loans to pay back when they start. Second, since medical school and residency take take so long 8+ years, most people are in their early 30's before they are even earning a decent paycheck. Not to say that is does not turn itself around later in life, but it is not nearly as glamorous a lifestyle as some folks think.

Mostly not glamorous at all, but eventually lucrative.

The M.D. is the only degree I can think of that guarantees an ordinary person a j*b. The odds of getting into med school are not good, the training is grueling , the work demanding, but if you're bright and have the stamina of a mule, you'll never have to worry about income.

This is simply not true for quant-types like engineers and physicists.
And quoting the IEEE on employment figures is like quoting the NAR on the housing market outlook.
Or, as Khrushchev once said, "Like sending a goat to tend the cabbage".

 

[Spanky]

The M.D. is the only degree I can think of that guarantees an ordinary person a j*b. The odds of getting into med school are not good, the training is grueling , the work demanding, but if you're bright and have the stamina of a mule, you'll never have to worry about income.

[SIZE=-1]Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine ([/SIZE]D.O.) degree is almost as lucrative and the chance of getting into the program is easier but probably more expensive and only a handful of schools offering it. The AMA considers the D.O. degree as equivalent to the traditional M.D. degree. That is, a D.O. graduate can practice medicine and enter residency programs just like a MD.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

The biggest cost of medical school is that debts cause you to wait until your mid-40s to start saving (at least in my circumstances - kids, parents of modest means).

The reward is that most of us like our jobs all those 35 years after training. Not a bad trade-off all in all.